---
layout: docs
page_title: Installation - VMware Provider
sidebar_title: Installation
description: |-
  The Vagrant VMware provider requires a two step installation
  process which includes a system package and a Vagrant plugin.
---

# Installation

If you are upgrading from the Vagrant VMware Workstation or Vagrant
VMware Fusion plugins, please halt or destroy all VMware VMs currently
being managed by Vagrant. Then continue with the instructions below.

Installation of the Vagrant VMware provider requires two steps. First the
Vagrant VMware Utility must be installed. This can be done by downloading
and installing the correct system package from the [Vagrant VMware Utility
downloads page](/vmware/downloads).

Next, install the Vagrant VMware provider plugin using the standard plugin
installation procedure:

```shell-session
$ vagrant plugin install vagrant-vmware-desktop
```

For more information on plugin installation, please see the
[Vagrant plugin usage documentation](/docs/plugins/usage).

The Vagrant VMware plugin is a commercial product provided by
[HashiCorp](https://www.hashicorp.com) and **requires the purchase of a license**
to operate. To purchase a license, please visit the
[Vagrant VMware provider](/vmware#buy-now) page. Upon
purchasing a license, you will receive a license file in your inbox. Download
this file and save it to a temporary location on your computer.

~> **Warning!** You cannot use your VMware product license as a
Vagrant VMware plugin license. They are separate commercial products, each
requiring their own license.

After installing the Vagrant VMware Desktop plugin for your system, you
will need to install the license:

```shell-session
$ vagrant plugin license vagrant-vmware-desktop ~/license.lic
```

The first parameter is the name of the plugin, and the second parameter is the
path to the license file on disk. Please be sure to replace `~/license.lic`
with the path where you temporarily saved the downloaded license file to disk.
After you have installed the plugin license, you may remove the temporary file.

To verify the license installation, run:

```shell-session
$ vagrant
```

If the license is not installed correctly, you will see an error message.

## Upgrading to v1.x

It is **extremely important** that the VMware plugin is upgraded to 1.0.0 or
above. This release resolved critical security vulnerabilities. To learn more,
please [read our release announcement](https://www.hashicorp.com/blog/introducing-the-vagrant-vmware-desktop-plugin).

After upgrading, please verify that the following paths are empty. The upgrade
process should remove these for you, but for security reasons it is important
to double check. If you're a new user or installing the VMware provider on a
new machine, you may skip this step. If you're a Windows user, you may skip this
step as well.

The path `~/.vagrant.d/gems/*/vagrant-vmware-{fusion,workstation}`
should no longer exist. The gem `vagrant-vmware-desktop` may exist since this
is the name of the new plugin. If the old directories exist, remove them. An
example for a Unix-like shell is shown below:

```shell-session
# Check if they exist and verify that they're the correct paths as shown below.
$ ls ~/.vagrant.d/gems/*/vagrant-vmware-{fusion,workstation}
...

# Remove them
$ rm -rf ~/.vagrant.d/gems/*/vagrant-vmware-{fusion,workstation}
```

## Updating the Vagrant VMware Desktop plugin

The Vagrant VMware Desktop plugin can be updated directly from Vagrant. Run the
following command to update Vagrant to the latest version of the Vagrant VMware
Desktop plugin:

```shell-session
$ vagrant plugin update vagrant-vmware-desktop
```


## Support

If you have any issues purchasing, installing, or using the Vagrant VMware
plugins, please [contact support](mailto:support@hashicorp.com). To
expedite the support process, please include the
[Vagrant debug output](/docs/other/debugging) as a Gist if
applicable. This will help us more quickly diagnose your issue.
